Writing Quotes by George Orwell

“Good prose is like a windowpane.”

— George Orwell

Writing a novel is agony.

— George Orwell

Good writing is like a windowpane.

— George Orwell

There is only one way to make money at writing, and that is to marry a publisher's daughter.

— George Orwell

Money writes books, money sells them. Give me not righteousness, O Lord, give me money, only money.

— George Orwell

“The imagination, like certain wild animals, will not breed in captivity.”

— George Orwell

For a creative writer possession of the ruth is less important than emotional sincerity.

— George Orwell

Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.

— George Orwell

Literature is doomed if liberty of thought perishes.

— George Orwell

Man's greatest drive is not love or hate but to change another person's writing.

— George Orwell

In our time political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

— George Orwell

He was conscious of nothing except the blankness of the page in front of him, the itching of the skin above his…

— George Orwell

In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are…

— George Orwell

“(Jack London)“He was an adventurer and a man of action as few writers have ever been . . . the excellence of…

— George Orwell

Sheer egoism... Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen - in short, with the whole top crust…

— George Orwell

Is not anyone with any degree of mental honesty conscious of telling lies all day long, both in talking and writing, simply…

— George Orwell

Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead…

— George Orwell

It is also true that one can write nothing readable unless one constantly struggles to efface one's own personality. Good prose is…

— George Orwell

“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery.”

— George Orwell

“From ... the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. ... I…

— George Orwell

“A writer inevitably - and less directly this applies to all the arts - about contemporary events, and his impulse is to…

— George Orwell

Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in…

— George Orwell

A scrupulous writer in every sentence that he writes will ask himself. . . What am I trying to say? What words…

— George Orwell

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to…

— George Orwell

The writers I care about most and never grow tired of are: Shakespeare, Swift, Fielding, Dickens, Charles Reade, Flaubert and, among modern…

— George Orwell

The energy that actually shapes the world springs from emotions - racial pride, leader-worship, religious belief, love of war - which liberal…

— George Orwell

I do not think one can assess a writer's motives without knowing something of his early development. His subject matter will be…

— George Orwell

Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is…

— George Orwell

To write or even speak English is not a science but an art. There are no reliable words. Whoever writes English is…

— George Orwell

“All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. Writing a book…

— George Orwell

“I do not think one can assess a writer's motives without knowing something of his early development. His subject matter will be…

— George Orwell

“Is there anyone who has ever written so much as a love letter in which he felt that he had said exactly…

— George Orwell

“Each of these passages has faults of its own, but, quite apart from avoidable ugliness, two qualities are common to all of…

— George Orwell

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying…

— George Orwell

“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in…

— George Orwell

By the time you have perfected any style of writing, you have always outgrown it.

— George Orwell

The modern writer who has influenced me most is W. Somerset Maugham .

— George Orwell

Good novel are written by people who are not frightened.

— George Orwell

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.

— George Orwell

I do not wish to comment on the work; if it does not speak for itself, it is a failure.

— George Orwell